Social aspects of content aggregation, syndication, sharing, and updating

ABSTRACT

“Smart bookmarks” are described which facilitate aggregation, sharing, and dynamic access to the content in which a particular user has an interest.

RELATED APPLICATION DATA

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/068,086 entitled ONEPLACE CONTENTAGGREGATION, SYNDICATION, SHARING, AND UPDATING filed on Mar. 3, 2008(Attorney Docket No. YAH1P155P/Y04375US00), the entire disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

The present application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser.No. [unassigned] entitled MECHANISMS FOR CONTENT AGGREGATION,SYNDICATION, SHARING, AND UPDATING filed on the same day as the presentapplication (Attorney Docket No. YAH1P155/Y04375US01), the entiredisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference for allpurposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to techniques for managing content innetworks and, more specifically to techniques by which users canaggregate and manage content of interest.

Users of the Internet and the World Wide Web consume content in a widevariety of forms from a seemingly infinite variety of sources. One typeof mechanism by which a user can return to a web site or locate acontent resource is the bookmarks or favorites functionality provided bythe typical web browser. Using such mechanisms, users can periodicallycheck on the sites and content in which they have an interest to seewhether anything new and interesting has been posted. Another type ofmechanism provides updates to the user regarding recent developmentssuch as, for example, the publication of new content, e.g., RSS feeds.

Despite the usefulness of such tools, given the sheer volume of contentin which the typical user has an interest, the dynamic nature of thecontent, and the disparate nature of the sources of content, currenttools for accessing and consuming content are becoming increasinglyinadequate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, “smart bookmarks” are describedwhich facilitate aggregation, sharing, and dynamic access to the contentin which a particular user has an interest. According to variousembodiments, methods and apparatus are provided for providing access tocontent. Presentation of a smart bookmark in a user interface isfacilitated. The smart bookmark includes a plurality of entries relatingto a particular concept. Each entry conveys current informationregarding the particular concept and includes an object representingremotely stored content relating to the particular concept. The objectis configured to facilitate access to the corresponding remotely storedcontent. At least some of the entries relate to contextual metadataassociated with a user associated with the user interface.

According to specific embodiments, at least one computer-readable mediumis provided having data structures stored therein which include smartbookmark configuration information. The smart bookmark configurationinformation is configured to enable instantiation of a smart bookmark.

According to other embodiments, methods and apparatus are provided forproviding access to content. Smart bookmark configuration information isstored for a plurality of smart bookmarks. In response to a requestcorresponding to a first one of the plurality of smart bookmarks from arequesting device, instantiation of the first smart bookmark at therequesting device is facilitated with reference to the smart bookmarkconfiguration information corresponding to the first smart bookmark. Atleast some of the entries of the first smart bookmark relate tocontextual metadata associated with a user associated with therequesting device.

According to various of the foregoing embodiments, the contextualmetadata represents one or more of user information associated with theuser, a social relationship associated with the user, a currentgeographic location associated with the user, a current time associatedwith the user, or a current topic.

According to one class of embodiments, the contextual metadatarepresents a social relationship associated with the user, and a firstone of the plurality of entries includes vitality corresponding to thesocial relationship.

According to another class of embodiments, the contextual metadatarepresents a group to which the user belongs, and a first one of theplurality of entries refers to other members of the group.

According to yet another class of embodiments, the contextual metadatarepresents a first geographic location associated with the user, and afirst one of the plurality of entries identifies a second geographiclocation in proximity to the first geographic location and relevant tothe particular concept to which the entries of the smart bookmarkrelate.

According to still another class of embodiments, the contextual metadatarepresents a current geographic location of the user. Creation of asmart bookmark by the user at the current geographic location isfacilitated, the particular concept to which the entries of the smartbookmark relate corresponds to the current geographic location. Thus,the user is enabled to bookmark a real-world location.

According to a further class of embodiments, the contextual metadatarepresents a current time associated with the user, and a first one ofthe plurality of entries identifies an event relevant to the currenttime and the particular concept to which the entries of the smartbookmark relate.

According to yet another class of embodiments, the contextual metadatarepresents a social relationship associated with the user. Disseminationof smart bookmark configuration information configured to enableinstantiation of the smart bookmark is facilitated. The dissemination isdone with reference to the social relationship to enable use of aninstance of the smart bookmark by another user.

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the presentinvention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of thespecification and the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1-11 illustrate various aspects of “smart bookmarks” enabled byspecific embodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 12-36 illustrate a variety of examples of the creation,management, presentation, sharing, and monetization of “smart bookmarks”according to specific embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 37 is a simplified diagram of a computing environment in whichembodiments of the present invention may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to specific embodiments of theinvention including the best modes contemplated by the inventors forcarrying out the invention. Examples of these specific embodiments areillustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention isdescribed in conjunction with these specific embodiments, it will beunderstood that it is not intended to limit the invention to thedescribed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to coveralternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included withinthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.In the following description, specific details are set forth in order toprovide a thorough understanding of the present invention. The presentinvention may be practiced without some or all of these specificdetails. In addition, well known features may not have been described indetail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention.

Yahoo! Mobile includes interrelated initiatives in three major areas,referred to as oneSearch, oneConnect, and onePlace. oneSearch providessearch services which aggregate and present all of the best searchresults clustered by type. oneConnect enables an individual to aggregatehis communications and social networking across networks. onePlaceenables an individual to aggregate and manage all the disparate contentand feeds in which he has an interest. It should be noted at the outsetthat, while many of the implementations of the present invention haveparticular value in the context of mobile devices, embodiments of theinvention are contemplated in which functionalities described herein aremade available in other contexts, e.g., desk top computers, set topboxes, etc.

A short description of the operation of an implementation of theoneSearch query processor may be instructive for understanding onePlacein that there is a common underlying information paradigm from whichboth derive benefits. In this example, a user enters the query “apple.”In addition to text in or associated with web pages and documents, theterm “apple” can be mapped to a number of abstract ideas, real worldobjects, and digital objects and media. Collectively, these things arereferred to herein as “entities.” oneSearch takes the string “apple” andperforms a disambiguation to determine at least some of the possibleentities “apple” might represent, e.g., the company, the fruit, therecord label, etc., each of which may then be mapped to one or moreresult types.

For example, if the entity is Apple® the company, the different resulttypes might include geographic results (e.g., company or storelocations), stock price, news stories (e.g., text and video), as well asconventional web and mobile web links. oneSearch then renders clustersof result types based on the entity or entities identified in thedisambiguation phase and their respective mappings to result types.Additional information about the operation of oneSearch may be obtainedwith reference to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/651,102 entitledCLUSTERED SEARCH PROCESSING filed on Jan. 5, 2007 (Attorney Docket No.08226/0205903-US0), the entire disclosure of which is incorporatedherein by reference for all purposes.

onePlace uses concepts of entities and result types similar to thoseemployed by oneSearch in taking the conventional concept of bookmarks toan entirely new level. As used herein, the term “smart bookmark” refersto an object (or combination of objects) which represents a combinationof one or more entities with one or more result types, and whichfacilitates dynamic access to the content in which the user has aninterest.

This is to be contrasted with conventional bookmarks (such as thoseassociated with a browser) which are typically stored as static URLscorresponding to information objects on the Web. By contrast, whileonePlace smart bookmarks may encompass some or all of the functionalityof conventional bookmarks, they also allow a user to bookmark any typeof entity, both digital and real world, at various levels ofabstraction. And even though such an entity might have multiple URLs,multiple feeds or streams, and/or multiple resources associated with it,a onePlace smart bookmark enables all of these information objects to beresolved to one entity, and, at least in some instances, a smartbookmark enables tapping into a stream of updates relating to thatentity.

It should be noted that embodiments are contemplated in which thecombinations or mapping of entities to result types include one-to-one,one-to-multiple, multiple-to-multiple, and multiple-to-one mappings. Insome examples described herein, these various possibilities may berepresented by the phrase “entit(ies) and result type(s).” It shouldalso be noted that the range of possibilities which could be consideredentities and result types for use with various embodiments of theinvention is virtually unlimited. Moreover, many entities and resulttypes may be used as either or both an entity and a result typedepending on the particular application. And any relationships betweenentities and result type referred to herein are merely examples andshould not be considered restrictive in that there can be virtualunlimited interrelations between the various different types of entitiesand results types (e.g., a sports league player may also be a celebrity;movies and television programs include celebrities; etc.). So, there canbe containment and hierarchical relationships among entities as well asblends or composites.

According to various embodiments and as will be discussed, smartbookmarks may be created, organized, and presented in a wide variety ofways. Some examples are illustrated in the screenshots of FIG. 1.

Screenshot 102 of FIG. 1 shows a “Favorites” view of a user's smartbookmark in which the entity “London” is associated with the result type“weather;” and the entity “eBay” is associated with the result types“stock price,” “stock chart,” and “RSS news article.” The entity“Engadget.com” is shown to have 5 associated results of the result type“RSS feed,” while the object “Trip to London” is actually a collectionof travel related smart bookmarks. Bookmark collections will be furtherdescribed with reference to screenshot 108.

Screenshot 104 of FIG. 1 shows an “All Bookmarks” view in which thenumber of associated results (e.g., new and/or unread) and some textassociated with one of the results (e.g., the most recent) is shown foreach entity. Like RSS feeds, these smart bookmarks are updated as newevents occur. Unlike RSS feeds, they are not limited to the singlesource of the feed or any particular technical mechanism fortransmitting the information.

According to various embodiments of the invention, smart bookmarks maybe thought of as stored queries (defined by combinations of entities andresults types) which notify the user of and give the user access tocontent of interest as it occurs, across different result types. In somecases, they may be thought of as vitality feeds relating to theassociated entit(ies). Screenshot 106 shows a “Pulse” view whichillustrates the dynamic, automatically updating nature of smartbookmarks according to a specific embodiment. In this view, updates forsmart bookmarks with recent activity are presented. As shown, each smartbookmark update includes some representation of the recently postedcontent. Because a smart bookmark can be for an entity (rather thanmerely for a string, URL, or RSS feed), updates for a smart bookmark inthe Pulse view can be of a different result type than the originallybookmarked entity/result type pair. For example, a user could bookmarkthe stock of the company “Apple” and see an update in the Pulse viewwhen a news story about the company “Apple” is published. In addition,an update displayed in the Pulse view may be gathered not only from theoriginal source of the entity, but also from other sources related toentity. For example, bookmarking the URL of an “Amy Winehouse” web pageis resolved to the “Amy Winehouse” entity, and as such updates from adifferent source, but about the same entity (e.g., a review of an AmyWinehouse album on another web site) may then appear in the Pulse viewfor the “Amy Winehouse” smart bookmark.

Screenshot 108 shows a “Collections” view which illustrates the notionof groupings or collections of smart bookmarks. These may include “SmartCollections” which are automatic groupings of the user's smart bookmarksaccording to relationships among entities and/or result types as wellas, in some embodiments, relationships to and among other data andmetadata, such as, for example, the spatial location of the user (e.g.,“Near Me”), temporal metadata (e.g., “Valentine's Day”), the user'ssocial connections or group affiliations (e.g., “Family Favorites” or“Popular in My Company”), automatically clustered topical metadata amonga user's smart bookmarks (e.g., “Obama and Clinton”), and/orcombinations of these, etc. These may also include collections createdby the user, i.e., “My Collections,” which may have an associatedindicator of the number of recent and/or unread results. This allows theuser to consolidate and manage his smart bookmarks. An example ofcreation of a collection is illustrated in screenshots of FIG. 2. Asshown in screenshot 202, the user can explicitly identify in which ofthe automatically generated “Smart Collections” the collection should beincluded.

The screenshots of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 illustrate some further aspects ofcollections of smart bookmarks. Selection of the Smart Collection“Celebrities” in screenshot 302 results in presentation of the user'ssmart bookmarks filtered by celebrities for which there has been recentactivity (e.g., screenshots 304 and 402). Some of these may be in moreexpanded views with, for example, visible content while other can be inless expanded views showing, for example, only the celebrity's name andheadshot along with an icon indicating the number of new and/or unreadevents. Selection of the Amy Winehouse smart bookmark in screenshot 304results in presentation of smart bookmarks and associated results asshown in screenshot 308. Selection of a “Trip to Hamburg” collectionresults in presentation of smart bookmarks relating to Hamburg andclustered by result type as shown in screenshot 306.

The manner in which result types are associated with entities to createsmart bookmarks may vary considerably without departing from the scopeof the invention. For example, in embodiments based on a oneSearchmodel, a set of result types may be implicitly associated with eachentity at the back end. In another example, a user may create a smartbookmark by explicitly selecting the combination of entit(ies) andresult type(s). That is, for example, the user may define a smartbookmark by selecting a subset of the result types mapped to aparticular entity as determined, for example, by the oneSearch queryprocessor.

Alternatively, or in combination with such an explicit selection, thecombination of entit(ies) and result type(s) may be done automaticallywith reference to, for example, information about the user orinformation about the behavior of a population of users (e.g.,preferences or behavior patterns). For example, if the user (or otherusers having similar characteristics to the user) typically consumes aparticular set of result types relating to a particular entity orsimilar entities, that set of result types might be suggested and/orautomatically associated with that entity during smart bookmarkcreation.

In addition, a given combination of entit(ies) and result type(s) maychange over time to reflect changes in behavior or new behavior of theuser and/or the population of users, or in response to events (e.g.,publication of content) relating to the entit(ies).

As will be understood these and other approaches, as well ascombinations of these and other approaches, may be employed to create anassociation of one or more entities with one or more result types bywhich dynamic access to content of interest may be provided.

An example of creation of a smart bookmark is illustrated in thescreenshots of FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. In screenshot 504, the user is able tohelp with entity disambiguation by identifying one or more categories(e.g., musical artist or celebrity) by which the entity may beidentified, and by optionally selecting one or more tags which relate tothe entity. The user may also designate one or more collections to whichthe new smart bookmark should belong.

In addition to facilitating disambiguation, tags may facilitatesearching for the content with which the smart bookmark is updated. Theuser may also be enabled to add his own tags as illustrated inscreenshots 506 and 508, and 602 and 604, in which the user beginsentering a tag, in response to which a tag is suggested and selected bythe user. This is like an auto-completion function in which thesuggested tag might be derived in this example from other musicalartists like the one that is the subject of the smart bookmark.Alternatively, multiple suggested tags could be presented to a userbefore, during, and/or after the user begins to input a tag. Moving anexisting smart bookmark to a collection is illustrated in screenshots702 and 704 of FIG. 7.

The screenshots of FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 illustrate a user successivelynavigating from a high level view of his smart bookmarks to increasinglygranular views by selecting a Smart Category (in this example,Celebrities), selecting a smart bookmark corresponding to a particularcelebrity, and then selecting various result types (e.g., articles,photos, notes and links), or a settings option in which the user maymodify parameters affecting the manner in which the smart bookmarkoperates or select a collection in which to include the smart bookmark.

The screenshots of FIG. 10 illustrate various examples of different waysin which the smart bookmarks associated with a particular collection (inthis case “Trip to Hamburg”) may be presented. In screenshot 1002, thesmart bookmarks are clustered by category (e.g., entity type) andpresented alphabetically within each category. In screenshot 1004, thesmart bookmarks are presented by relevance, i.e., those smart bookmarkswhich have been recently updated, followed by smart bookmarks having norecent updates sorted by the date added. Screenshot 1006 shows analphabetical sort of all of the user's smart bookmarks. Many other typesof views of smart bookmarks in collections are possible, such as, forexample, to present smart bookmarks spatially on a map of the locationswhere they were created, the locations they refer to, and/or thelocations where they are accessed. Similarly, one could view smartbookmarks in a collection temporally in a timeline or calendar of thetimes/events when they were created, the times/events they refer to,and/or the times/events where they are accessed. Similarly, one couldview smart bookmarks in a collection socially in a graph or list or gridof the people who created them, the people they refer to, and/or thepeople accessed them. Similarly, one could view smart bookmarks in acollection topically in a tag cloud or topic index of the topics theyrefer to and/or relate to. Various combinations of these views are alsopossible combining views of the smart bookmarks in a collection (andoptionally clusters of these smart bookmarks) according to theirspatial, temporal, social, and topical metadata.

According to some embodiments, the presentation, management, andcreation of smart bookmarks can be integrated with search. An example isillustrated in the screenshots of FIG. 11. As the user is typing in thesearch query “Mad,” relevant ones of the user's smart bookmarks aresurfaced, i.e., the stock price for Madeco and the weather in Madrid, aswell as a link to all of the relevant smart bookmarks (i.e.,entity/result type combinations) from the user's collection. Inaddition, because of its knowledge of entities, the system also suggestsother possible entities and/or smart bookmarks to add to the user'scollection which relate to the search query as entered so far, i.e.,Madonna, John Madden, Madison Square Garden. So unlike standard searchservices, oneSearch and onePlace can operate on the level of entitiesrather than just on the level of web links or strings.

According to some embodiments of the invention, various levels ofsharing of a user's smart bookmarks are enabled. For example, a user maybe enabled to allow other users to see his smart bookmarks, toaffirmatively share his smart bookmarks with others, to see what othershave bookmarked, to see who has bookmarked the same or similar things,etc.

According to some embodiments, the aggregation of social relationshipsacross various networks enabled by oneConnect may be leveraged tofurther enhance the manner in which users share and interact with theirsmart bookmarks. That is, for example, a user's smart bookmarks may bethought of as another form of personal information or vitality which canbe shared among the people in the user's network using such techniques.Additional information about the operation of oneConnect may be obtainedwith reference to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/069,731 forIDENTIFYING AND EMPLOYING SOCIAL NETWORK RELATIONSHIPS filed Feb. 11,2008 (Attorney Docket No. YAH1P134/Y04232US01), the entire disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

Moreover, any of the generation, management, presentation, and/orsharing of smart bookmarks may be enhanced with the understanding of whothe user is, where the user is, the current time, and what the smartbookmarks relate to. That is, spatial, temporal, social, and/or topicalmetadata may be leveraged, for example, in the creation and/ormodification of entity/result type combinations, to bias presentation ofresults, as well as to facilitate organization and sharing of smartbookmarks.

For example, knowledge of the user's location or the current time can beused to affect the ordering of smart bookmarks in a given view and/orthe result types which are surfaced. In the example of FIG. 11 describedabove, if the user is known to be in Madrid, the smart bookmarkssurfaced and/or the entities suggested may be selected based on thatknowledge, in which case, for example, the Madrid weather smart bookmark(and possibly others among the user's smart bookmarks) would likely bepresented before the stock price for Madeco. Similarly, if a user has asmart bookmark relating to a particular sports franchise, and the teamis currently playing, then the result type deemed most relevant at thecurrent time might be the current score of the game. More generally, anyof the views of the screenshots of FIGS. 1-11 may be biased withreference to where/when/who/what (W4) metadata.

The screenshots of FIGS. 12-19 provide examples of some of the ways inwhich the smart bookmarks of onePlace may be shared and/or monetized,and also ways in which W4 metadata may be leveraged to create, manage,present, and share smart bookmarks.

Assume that a user has created a smart bookmark or a collection for hisfavorite sports franchise, the Boston Red Sox. Selection of that smartbookmark or collection would bring the user to a landing page asdescribed above with reference to screenshots 304 and 402 of FIGS. 3 and4. Such a landing page might include much of the content shown inscreenshot 1202 of FIG. 12 which represents either oneSearch searchresults in response to the search query “Boston Red Sox” or the alanding page for the “Boston Red Sox” smart bookmark in the case inwhich the user has Contacts who have made their onePlace smart bookmarkfor the “Boston Red Sox” known to other people to all other users or tosome permissioned subset of other users (such as contacts, connections,friends, family, coworkers, classmates, etc.).

With the addition of the knowledge of the user's social relationships(e.g., as enabled by oneConnect), the search results can include resultslike those shown in screenshot 1204 which represent communicationcircuits by which the user may communicate with other people, e.g.,results for contacts who also like the Red Sox, contacts who hate theRed Sox, and even results for people outside of the user's socialrelationships who are Red Sox fans. Similarly, with the knowledge of W4metadata (e.g., location), the search results can include results likethose shown in screenshots 1206 and 1208, e.g., Boston sports bars thatusers have bookmarked with the “Boston Red Sox” and/or the “Sam Adams”smart bookmarks. And as shown in FIG. 13, there are a variety ofmonetization opportunities associated with smart bookmarks relating tothe Boston Red Sox.

For example, screenshot 1302 illustrates sponsorship opportunities (1and 2) for different types of content; in this example, sports scoresand a video clip. Sponsorship of a contest (3) is shown in screenshot1306. Screenshot 1306 also includes an entry for limited edition gifts(4), as well as both geographically determined and online offers (5).Screenshot 1308 includes shopping links, e.g., ringtones, etc. (6).

Similarly, smart bookmark relating to “Lindsay Lohan” may be enhancedwith reference to either or both of social relationship data and W4metadata (which may also include social relationship data), with similarmonetization opportunities as shown in the screenshots of FIGS. 14 and15. Yet another set of monetization options are illustrated in thescreenshots of FIGS. 16-18, in which the user's expressed interest infootwear and accessories is used in a variety of ways, e.g., to filterand/or organize content and social relationships, to sponsor a photocontest, to sell products, to conduct market research, to present videoadvertising, etc. FIG. 19 shows additional monetization opportunitiesrelating to Coca-Cola. It will be understood that the monetizationopportunities illustrated in FIGS. 12-19 represent a small subset of thepossible ways in which smart bookmarks enabled by various embodiments ofthe invention may be monetized. A wide range of other opportunities willbe appreciated by those of skill in the art.

In the context of onePlace, the “stored queries” represented by a user'ssmart bookmarks and collections of smart bookmarks result in thepresentation of results such as those generated in accordance withoneSearch, except that the results are not static. That is, the dynamicnature of onePlace smart bookmarks enables the user to access the mostcurrent content and vitality which relates to the entities in which hehas an interest. And the sharing and monetization opportunitiesdescribed above with reference to the screenshots of FIGS. 12-19 aresimilarly enabled.

For example, in addition to other users interested in the Red Sox withwhom a user has social relationships, there may be other users in thesame geographic location, e.g., San Francisco, who have smart bookmarksrelating to the entity Boston Red Sox. Using the understanding of wherethe user is and, for example, places those unrelated users congregate,recommendations could be made to the user regarding possible smartbookmarks, e.g., San Francisco sports bars frequented by Red Sox fans.Further, temporal metadata (e.g., Red Sox telecast at 4 pm) may beemployed to predict or announce gatherings of Red Sox fans at suchlocations, and to incorporate such vitality into the user's smartbookmarks. As will be understood, the ways in which social relationshipdata and/or W4 metadata might be employed in a particular context tofacilitate creation, management, presentation, and sharing of smartbookmarks is virtually limitless.

It should be noted that monetization opportunities associated with thepresent invention do not necessarily rely on social relationship data.For example, the very nature of a particular user's smart bookmarkscreates opportunities for these and various other types of monetization.For example, integrated in a smart bookmark collection relating to theBoston Red Sox could be ads for purchasing Red Sox tickets ormemorabilia. Or discount flights to London could be associated with asmart bookmark for London weather. Or sponsor logos or ads could beintegrated with video feeds or new articles associated with a smartbookmark. Or advertisers could sponsor presentation of particularcontent or vitality. Examples of these and other monetizationopportunities which may be employed with various embodiments of theinvention are provided in various ones of the screenshots of FIGS.12-19. Any view of a user's smart bookmarks (e.g., landing pages, pulseview, etc.) provides such opportunities. And because onePlace smartbookmarks can be analogized to stored queries as described above, itthen follows that virtually any type of monetization associated withconventional search can be applied to this context. The possibilitiesare numerous.

The slides of FIGS. 20-36 illustrate further examples of the creation,management, presentation, sharing, and monetization of smart bookmarksaccording to various embodiments of the invention. For example,screenshots 2004 and 2102-2108 of FIGS. 20 and 21 illustrate the abilityof the user to designate data sources from which smart bookmark updatesmay be derived including, for example, the networks and accounts withwhich he is connected or of which he is a member. Screenshots 2302-2306of FIG. 23 show the landing pages for the corresponding smart bookmarksselected in screenshot 2002 or screen shot 2202.

The view screenshot 2402 of FIG. 24 illustrates the concept of filteringof smart bookmarks. As shown, the user is given the option of filteringbookmarks with reference to various W4 metadata (e.g., location, socialrelationships, time, etc.), as well as different categories (e.g.,entity types, result types, etc.). Selection of the “Pictures” optionresults in the view of screenshot 2502 of FIG. 25 in which only smartbookmarks with photos are featured. The views in screenshots 2504-2508of FIG. 25 and screenshot 2602 of FIG. 26 illustrate the ability tosearch through the users existing smart bookmarks as well as add newsmart bookmarks relating to the search query.

Screenshots 2702-2706 of FIG. 27 provide another example of the variousviews associated with a collection of smart bookmarks (i.e., HamburgTrip) from the top level Collections view, and then drilling down tomore specific views. Screenshots 2802-2806, 2902-2904, 3002-3006, and3102-3104 of FIGS. 28-31 illustrate various views of smart bookmarks by“Categories” such as Movies, Stocks, Sports, and News. Screenshot 3102of FIG. 31 and the screen shot 3202 of FIG. 32 illustrate a particularexample of a drill down into the collection “Tech & Gadgets.”

Screenshot 3302 of FIG. 33 provides another example of a “Pulse” view inwhich recent updates for the user's smart bookmarks are presented.Screenshots 3402 and 3404 of FIG. 34 illustrate a drill down from thePulse view into views of different result types (i.e., articles andphotos) for a particular entity in the Pulse view. Screenshot 3406illustrates organization of a user's smart bookmarks according to“Favorites.”

The screenshots of FIGS. 35 and 36 illustrate an example of a flow inwhich the user navigates between various views, starting with a view ofall of his smart bookmarks, then filtering the view by spatialinformation, i.e., geographically relevant smart bookmarks (screenshots3502-3506). The views then switch through the Collections view (3508),the Categories view (3602), and the Pulse view (3604) in succession. ThePulse view is then filtered to include updates for smart bookmarks whichare socially relevant, i.e., “From friends,” (3606 and 3608).

According to various embodiments, onePlace smart bookmarks enable theuser to “bookmark the world.” That is, with the knowledge of W4metadata, a user can actually bookmark real world entities (as opposedto only digital objects) including, for example, people and places. So,for example, if the user is at Yankee Stadium, his location in space canbe fairly precisely determined from his mobile device, e.g., his cellphone, and the fact that the location is Yankee Stadium can be readilydetermined with reference to any online map database. Therefore, theuser can simply bookmark his current location which will then show up inhis smart bookmarks as the entity Yankee Stadium which, in turn, maps toother entities (e.g., the New York Yankees), as well as a variety ofresult types (e.g., maps, photos, web sites, news, people, etc.).

And according to various specific implementations, onePlace smartbookmarks allow a user to get live feeds for that entity from multipleand different types of sources, to share those smart bookmarks withothers, and/or to have the results rendered in a manner which takes intoaccount W4 metadata and/or social relationship data.

According to various embodiments of the invention, additionalfunctionalities are contemplated which leverage the nature of onePlacesmart bookmarks. According to one class of embodiments, the user isgiven explicit control over result type renderers to create custompresentations or playlists of content relating to entities of interest.For example, a user may be given the option of selecting some subset ofhis smart bookmarks and requesting that any video streams associatedwith the entities corresponding to the selected smart bookmarks bestreamed in a successive manner, thereby creating a custom video channelwhich includes content relating to the entities in which the user has aninterest. News stories relating to some subset of the user's smartbookmarks could be similarly aggregated and presented. More generally,the user will be able to combine any type of result type content for anyentit(ies) into such a playlist and view that result type content in anassociated player for the result type. And it should be understood that,while the order in which such content is presented can also beexplicitly controlled by the user, it can also be automaticallycontrolled or biased using any of the techniques described herein.

Embodiments of the present invention may be employed to aggregatecontent in any of a wide variety of computing contexts. For example, asillustrated in the network diagram of FIG. 37, implementations arecontemplated in which the relevant population of users interacts with adiverse network environment via any type of computer (e.g., desktop,laptop, tablet, etc.) 3702, media computing platforms 3703 (e.g., cableand satellite set top boxes and digital video recorders), mobilecomputing devices (e.g., PDAs) 3704, cell phones 3706, or any other typeof computing or communication platform.

And according to various embodiments, user data processed in accordancewith the invention may be collected using a wide variety of techniques.For example, collection of data representing a user's interaction with aweb site or web-based application or service (e.g., the number of pageviews) may be accomplished using any of a variety of well knownmechanisms for recording a user's online behavior. User data may bemined directly or indirectly, or inferred from data sets associated withany network or communication system on the Internet. And notwithstandingthese examples, it should be understood that such methods of datacollection are merely exemplary and that user data may be collected inmany ways.

Once collected, the user data may be processed in some centralizedmanner. This is represented in FIG. 37 by server 3708 and data store3710 which, as will be understood, may correspond to multipledistributed devices and data stores. The invention may also be practicedin a wide variety of network environments including, for example,TCP/IP-based networks, telecommunications networks, wireless networks,etc. These networks, as well as the various social networking sites andcommunication systems from which connection data may be aggregatedaccording to the invention are represented by network 3712.

In addition, the computer program instructions with which embodiments ofthe invention are implemented may be stored in any type ofcomputer-readable media, and may be executed according to a variety ofcomputing models including a client/server model, a peer-to-peer model,on a stand-alone computing device, or according to a distributedcomputing model in which various of the functionalities described hereinmay be effected or employed at different locations.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to specific embodiments thereof, it will be understood bythose skilled in the art that changes in the form and details of thedisclosed embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit orscope of the invention. In addition, although various advantages,aspects, and objects of the present invention have been discussed hereinwith reference to various embodiments, it will be understood that thescope of the invention should not be limited by reference to suchadvantages, aspects, and objects.

1. A computer-implemented method for providing access to content,comprising facilitating presentation of a smart bookmark in a userinterface, the smart bookmark comprising a plurality of entries relatingto a particular concept, each entry conveying current informationregarding the particular concept and comprising an object representingremotely stored content relating to the particular concept, the objectbeing configured to facilitate access to the corresponding remotelystored content, at least some of the entries relating to contextualmetadata associated with a user associated with the user interface. 2.The method of claim 1 wherein the contextual metadata represents one ormore of user information associated with the user, a social relationshipassociated with the user, a current geographic location associated withthe user, a current time associated with the user, or a current topic.3. The method of claim 1 wherein the remotely stored content representedby the objects associated with the plurality of entries originates froma plurality of different sources, the smart bookmark thus enablingaggregation of and dynamic access to the remotely stored contentrelating to the particular concept from the plurality of differentsources.
 4. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating a firstone of the plurality of entries substantially in real time to reflect acorresponding change to one or more of the current informationassociated with the first entry, or the remotely stored contentrepresented by the object associated with the first entry.
 5. The methodof claim 1 wherein the plurality of entries are ordered with referenceto the contextual metadata.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein thecontextual metadata represents a social relationship associated with theuser, and wherein a first one of the plurality of entries includesvitality corresponding to the social relationship.
 7. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the contextual metadata represents a group to which theuser belongs, and wherein a first one of the plurality of entries refersto other members of the group.
 8. The method of claim 7 wherein the userdoes not have an existing social connection with at least one of theother members of the group to which the first entry refers.
 9. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the contextual metadata represents a firstgeographic location associated with the user, and wherein a first one ofthe plurality of entries identifies a second geographic location inproximity to the first geographic location and relevant to theparticular concept to which the entries of the smart bookmark relate.10. The method of claim 1 wherein the contextual metadata represents acurrent time associated with the user, and wherein a first one of theplurality of entries identifies an event relevant to the current timeand the particular concept to which the entries of the smart bookmarkrelate.
 11. The method of claim 1 wherein selected ones of the pluralityof entries include one or more of sponsorship indicia, a link to ashopping opportunity, an advertisement, or a market research mechanism.12. The method of claim 1 wherein the contextual metadata represents acurrent geographic location of the user, the method further comprisingfacilitating creation of the smart bookmark by the user at the currentgeographic location, wherein the particular concept corresponds to thecurrent geographic location, thereby enabling the user to bookmark areal-world location.
 13. The method of claim 1 wherein the contextualmetadata represents a social relationship associated with the user, themethod further comprising disseminating smart bookmark configurationinformation configured to enable instantiation of the smart bookmark,the disseminating being done with reference to the social relationshipto enable use of an instance of the smart bookmark by another user. 14.At least one computer-readable medium having data structures storedtherein comprising smart bookmark configuration information, the smartbookmark configuration information being configured to enableinstantiation of a smart bookmark, the smart bookmark comprising aplurality of entries relating to a particular concept, each entryconveying current information regarding the particular concept andcomprising an object representing remotely stored content relating tothe particular concept, the object being configured to facilitate accessto the corresponding remotely stored content, at least some of theentries relating to contextual metadata associated with a userassociated with the user interface.
 15. A computer-implemented methodfor providing access to content, comprising: storing smart bookmarkconfiguration information for a plurality of smart bookmarks, the smartbookmark configuration information being configured to enableinstantiation of the smart bookmarks in user interfaces, each smartbookmark comprising a plurality of entries relating to a particularconcept, each entry conveying current information regarding theparticular concept and comprising an object representing remotely storedcontent relating to the particular concept, the object being configuredto facilitate access to the corresponding remotely stored content; andin response to a request corresponding to a first one of the pluralityof smart bookmarks from a requesting device, facilitating instantiationof the first smart bookmark at the requesting device with reference tothe smart bookmark configuration information corresponding to the firstsmart bookmark, at least some of the entries of the first smart bookmarkrelating to contextual metadata associated with a user associated withthe requesting device.
 16. The method of claim 15 wherein the contextualmetadata represents one or more of user information associated with theuser, a social relationship associated with the user, a currentgeographic location associated with the user, a current time associatedwith the user, or a current topic.
 17. The method of claim 15 whereinthe remotely stored content represented by the objects associated withthe plurality of entries of the first smart bookmark originates from aplurality of different sources, the first smart bookmark thus enablingaggregation of and dynamic access to the remotely stored contentrelating to the particular concept from the plurality of differentsources.
 18. The method of claim 15 further comprising updating a firstone of the plurality of entries of the first smart bookmarksubstantially in real time to reflect a corresponding change to one ormore of the current information associated with the first entry, or theremotely stored content represented by the object associated with thefirst entry.
 19. The method of claim 15 wherein the plurality of entriesof the first bookmark are ordered with reference to the contextualmetadata.
 20. The method of claim 15 wherein the contextual metadatarepresents a social relationship associated with the user, and wherein afirst one of the plurality of entries of the first smart bookmarkincludes vitality corresponding to the social relationship.
 21. Themethod of claim 15 wherein the contextual metadata represents a group towhich the user belongs, and wherein a first one of the plurality ofentries of the first smart bookmark refers to other members of thegroup.
 22. The method of claim 21 wherein the user does not have anexisting social connection with at least one of the other members of thegroup to which the first entry refers.
 23. The method of claim 15wherein the contextual metadata represents a first geographic locationassociated with the user, and wherein a first one of the plurality ofentries of the first smart bookmark identifies a second geographiclocation in proximity to the first geographic location and relevant tothe particular concept to which the entries of the first smart bookmarkrelate.
 24. The method of claim 15 wherein the contextual metadatarepresents a current time associated with the user, and wherein a firstone of the plurality of entries of the first smart bookmark identifiesan event relevant to the current time and the particular concept towhich the entries of the first smart bookmark relate.
 25. The method ofclaim 15 wherein selected ones of the plurality of entries of the firstsmart bookmark include one or more of sponsorship indicia, a link to ashopping opportunity, an advertisement, or a market research mechanism.26. The method of claim 15 wherein the contextual metadata represents acurrent geographic location of the user, the method further comprisingfacilitating creation of the first smart bookmark by the user at thecurrent geographic location, wherein the particular concept to which thefirst smart bookmark relates corresponds to the current geographiclocation, thereby enabling the user to bookmark a real-world location.27. The method of claim 15 further comprising selecting the entries forinclusion in the smart bookmark with reference to the contextualmetadata.
 28. The method of claim 15 wherein the contextual metadatarepresents a social relationship associated with the user, the methodfurther comprising disseminating smart bookmark configurationinformation configured to enable instantiation of the first smartbookmark, the disseminating being done with reference to the socialrelationship to enable use of an instance of the first smart bookmark byanother user.